If you haven’t heard of quinoa (keen-wa), it’s a gluten free grain from Peru that is gaining popularity quickly here in the US. It tastes like rice, sorta. It has a texture like….well, I dunno. It has it’s own texture.

The only thing I wished I’d had on hand were olives…kalamata, black or green…any would be a lovely addition to this meal!

This Mediterranean Quinoa would make a lovely vegetarian meal, a nice side dish alongside some grilled chicken, or a non-vegetarian meal with diced chicken mixed in. Enjoy it as you wish…

Mediterranean Quinoa

Yield – 4 servings

Preparation Time – 15 minutes (while quinoa is cooking)

Cooking Time – 15 minutes, plus 10 minutes cooling time

Ingredients

1 3/4 cup quinoa ($1.50)

1/4 cup lemon juice ($.15)

2 garlic cloves, crushed ($.05)

1 cup finely chopped red onion ($.40)

1 cucumber (free from a church friend’s garden!)

3 medium sized tomatoes, diced (free from the garden)

Fresh oregano and parsley, chopped (free from the garden)

4 ounces Feta cheese ($1.50) Used recent $1 coupon on $3 sale price, used 3/4 of the Feta for these

Directions

Add 4 cups hot water to large saucepan, bring to boil. Once boiling, add the quinoa, stir, return to boiling, cover, reduce eat with let cook for about 15 minutes over low heat. It is cooked with the little circles separate from the grain.

Cost $3.60, or more if you add chicken

__________________________________________________

Have a Frugal and Healthy Recipe to share?

Post the recipe on your blog and then add the link below. Other guidelines can be found here[6]. To make it easy for other readers to find your recipe, please leave the link that leads directly to your recipe post. Any links that lead to your homepage will be deleted. If you don’t have a blog, feel free to leave your recipe in the comments section!